The New Bond

“There are those who delve into dungeons for profit and levels, but there are also those who delve into dungeons for the thrill. No dungeon is the same as another. This gives people the ability to learn of new monsters and fight them without the risk of hitting too high above your grade.” - Adventurers Guild Assistant Theia Letim

CORE N.41 Label: Salem

Salem looked down at his dungeon, bored. Well, looking down wasn't exactly true, as he was technically omniscient in the area of his dungeon because of his Dungeon Sense skill, but he liked to imagine he looked at it from a downward angle. His first mistake had been giving his floor a sulfur base. The smell was definitely unpleasant, but sulfur had quite a few uses, and he figured it'd be quite a pull for his first floor.

To his dismay and suffering, the only people who had any know-how to use it were living multiple weeks away in the mountains.

His second mistake was not investing his gained mana into a mana regeneration skill. That mistake had cost him any growth. Salem was now stuck as a grade two dungeon with one of the lowest mana amounts in the realm, according to the dungeon panel. His only real chance of any proper mana gain now was a dungeon break, but that would be more an issue than a solution from what he'd been told.

He was just about to bring up the dungeon forms to see if anything of note had happened in the past week when he was alerted by a screen. Someone had entered his dungeon alone. At first, he figured it would be one of the yearly ‘cleanings’ he received from someone at least twice his grade and worth next to no mana with the little time they spent. He almost didn't bother to check her status, but he didn't have anything better to do. As he read the status page, the system offered his emotions and did a few flips at what was revealed.

[Dungeon Delver Status, Extended View]

[Selected Delver: Aster]

[Grade Two, Level 76]

[Role: Damage, Mixed]

[Unique Status: Progenitor]

[Progenitor: Mana is gained at twice the rate from this delver when on a floor equal to their grade.]

Each delver had a status of some kind, but this was his first view of a unique status. He was more than pleased with the chance it offered him. He waited a moment, expectant, then frowned as no new screens appeared. Had this delver come in here alone? She, from his guess, was a newly advanced grade two and had entered alone. Was she insane? This was his only chance to fix the mistakes he'd made, and she was going to ruin it. No, no, no, that wouldn't do. He needed her in the dungeon for at least a few days without dying, and that was if she spent them on the second floor. How could he fix this?

Pulling up the screen for monsters on his first floor, he paused right before he started to make any changes. Would making it easy for this girl be a good idea? Was there another way he could earn mana off of her?

The idea hit him then: he could use the dungeon forms. Paying the mana to put this dungeon run on the forms while it was happening would be a risk, but someone with a unique status had to be strong. A few years’ worth of the little mana he'd gained would be put on the line, but the rewards, if she made it to even the second floor, could be amazing, depending on the bets. Giving himself a mental stretch, he spent the four thousand mana to start the live view. If Salem remembered anything from his past life, he'd been a gambler, and there were no plans to stop now.

Aster

The shift as I entered the dungeon was foretold by a slight tingle that raced up my spine and a screen appearing in my vision.

[You have entered a dungeon.]

[One out of Six participants. The dungeon instance will remain open for fifteen minutes or until the maximum party size has been reached]

The first thing I noticed was that the dungeon supported more people per instance than the other dungeon I'd done. Did that mean it was more dangerous or bigger than the last, or was it just random? It was meant to be a grade-two dungeon, so it couldn't be that big of a difference.

I continued on the path, doing one last quick check of my bow and gloves. The sulfur smell didn't die out, and weirdly enough, as long as I breathed through my mouth, I felt like I was getting used to the scent. Shifting the pack on my shoulders, I watched as the cave walls expanded outwards and opened up. The yellow dust and rock on the ground shifted to dark gray stone brick as I made my way forward, and I was thankful for my skill, Night Eye, and its ability to let me see in the dark, helping to avoid tripping. As the path down came to an end and the floor evened out, I found myself facing a door inset into a stone brick wall. It reminded me of the ruins in the forest with how deteriorated it looked, but instead of vines and grass, it was overtaken with dirt and dust. The stone around the door was cracked, and tiny bits of bricks from the wall were scattered along the ground. The wood of the door was the only part that looked untouched by time. On the door, a set of words were crossed out, but still legible, they read, Salem Mine. Below that, carved into the door with what had to be a knife or sharp object, another set of words was present that had me tilting my head. They are liars, all of them.

“That's not very helpful.” I groaned. I really hoped that the first floor wasn't a big riddle.

Taking a look around, I made sure I wasn't missing anything, and besides multiple chunks of yellow stone on the wall and roof, there was nothing. Putting the bow over my shoulder, I reached and pulled on the door handle. The rusted hinges squealed as the door opened, and I backed up, letting it swing open fully. I half expected something to jump out, but nothing happened. Carefully, I walked inside.

Looking up for anything, I checked both sides of the door as well, but all there was was another hallway of the same crumbling brick on the floor and yellow stone clusters on the wall with the addition of wooden pillars every twenty feet on both sides that seemed to be for support. Pulling my bow out, I started forward again and notched an arrow, making my way down the hall slowly, the stillness of the air making my fur and hair rise up in nervousness. I was halfway down the hallway when there was a click, and I felt the shift of stone under my foot. The noise was soft, but with it being the only sound, it could have been the roar of a dragon.

Not giving myself time to think, I kicked forward and, using Stalkers Movement with as much mana and stamina as possible, I sent myself forward with a look behind me, watching as nothing happened. There were no spikes or darts, just the hallway. Looking forward, I felt my eyes widen. With no time to stop myself, I saw the hallway turn to the right ahead.

My collision with the wall sent a cloud of dust up and started a sneezing fit. Rubbing my shoulder, I winced. That would be a bruise later. Wiping the dust off my face and tail, I took a second to try and get into the right mind. That was when the growls and noises of movement started to sound. The noise echoed off the wall, not going any idea of a distance, but as hoped up as I was, I had my arrow pulled back and ready to shoot in less than a second, my mana imbuing an Advanced Frosted Arrow.

I waited, but nothing appeared out of the gloom ahead. This dungeon run was starting poorly, and why did the entire dungeon have to be in such a closed-in space? Why couldn't a floor just be a proper fight? Taking one step at a time, I listened as the noises of whatever was in the dark continued to where Night Eye skill didn't reach.

“Why am I so jumpy?” My voice was a whisper and meant to be to myself to calm my nerves, but the dubble response I got didn't help.

A purple screen popped into view on the right of my vision and appeared at the same time as something leaped out of the dark. I yelped as I let the arrow loose.

My arrow landed in the middle of the thing, but its forward movement kept it going forward, and its weight hit me, sending me stumbling. Dropping my bow, I slammed my fist into it twice before I realized the arrow had killed it, and there was a standard screen waiting for me.

[You have killed A Dungeon - Lurker - Level 64.]

[You have defeated a Monster, Grade 1. Decreased experience is awarded for killing a monster 1 grade lower than you.]

Feeling my cheeks heat up in embarrassment, I picked up my bow, and after listening for any more noise and not hearing any, I started harvesting the monster's core. This was only the first floor, which meant that all the monsters would be lower level than me. I should be speeding through this, not jumping at every noise. I should be careful but not acting like a newborn pup. Looking at the purple screen, I read it as I worked to find the core.

[Progenitor’s System: Recommendation of skill Calm Mind. Cost 8 Skill Points.]

I dismissed the window with a sigh. I needed to look into the Progenitor's System and skill points screen and what I could do, but there hadn't been time to test the skills I already had from the advancement, and now wasn't the time either.

Picking up the small core that had been in the lower abdominal part of the monster, I put it into my pack and inspected the monster. It was human-shaped but covered in short black fur and had longer than average limbs as well as a mouth full of crooked, jagged teeth. Standing up, I smiled to myself as I felt my confidence rise. This floor could be easy if I let it.

CORE N.41 Label: Salem

Salem was a wreck of emotions. At first, he feared that he'd made a mistake putting his mana on the girl. Not only did she react to a stone breaking by slamming into a wall at high speed, but she also screamed at the first sight of a monster. There was a moment of helplessness as Salem figured he'd have to wait a decade before he'd have the mana for a third floor. That feeling changed as the delving girl was ambushed at the next turn in the hallway. The two lurkers that had been waiting behind fake stone walls had met a swift end with only a set of punches each. No skills were even used in the exchange.

That had caused Salem to take an interest in the gloves she was using, and while they were definitely made of special materials, the gloves had no special runes on them to increase the strength of her punches. Was she secretly putting all of her attribute points into strength? He watched as she cleared hallway after hallway with her, only stopping to check the door that led to the supply rooms he had designed for the mine. She missed the rune-covered pickaxe in one of them but not the hidden Lurker that hid on a wood beam above her.

Looking at the screen of the dungeon forms where the delve was being sent and other dungeons were watching, he felt his core shiver slightly. The first-floor boss would be the real first test.

Aster

After the endless seeming hallways finally came to an end and every room I could find had been cleared, I was left standing at what had to be the floor boss room with a total of one level gained in my form, the entire floor, and sixteen orbs. The reason I thought it was a boss room door? The door was huge and made of stone with a lot of swirls and curving lines that gave it an elegant design. It stood out like a sore thumb compared to the crumbling stone floor and wooden pillars. My only bit of confusion was how short the first floor felt. Compared to the other dungeon, it was lackluster in a lot of ways, but there were no puzzles, so I was more than happy.

Deciding on a small break before going into the boss room to eat and letting my mana regenerate, I took the time to get ready but didn't spend more time than needed. Once I was ready and feeling refreshed, I placed a hand on the door.

[Boss Room Status: Ready. Confirm boss room entry?]

[0/1 Confirmed]

I gave my confirmation and smiled, feeling my ears flick in excitement. A boss of my own grade, and I got to fight it alone. The doors opened slowly, and I took a look at the boss room around me. It was a relatively sizable square room, about eighty feet by a hundred feet, filled with junk and broken rock. Empty and rusted minecarts with yellow rock were left sitting on broken and torn tracks with nowhere to go. In the middle of the room, there was a pile of rocks but no sign of the boss. Notching an arrow, I looked around and up, taking several steps into the room. Behind me, the door started to close, and I tilted my head slightly and waited. It was only when the door closed that the movement started. Near the back of the room, behind the rock pile, were the sounds of shifting debris and stone. Moving slowly to the side, staying on the edge of the room, my eyes widened as the boss came into view, and I quickly identified it.

[Dungeon Boss - Living Sulfur Abomination - Level 84]

The monster was a tall nine-foot humanoid mashup of yellow rock, metal scrap, and stone. Its right hand was made up of a heavy, large pickaxe that looked a bit too sharp for my taste. Inset in its face, there was a single yellow pearlescent stone in the middle that glowed and seemed to act as an eye with no other facial features to be seen. As I examined it, it turned its head and looked at me. A scratching noise of stone breaking and reforming sounded as it took a lumbering step. That was when my brain kicked in, and I raised my bow, charging a Frost Arrow. Moving backward, I fired a shot, watching as the arrow aimed for its orb eye was intercepted by its left hand. The arrow hit the stone hand and then transferred over the frost from the skill before it bounced off. I felt my excitement dim a bit as I realized the boss's stone skin or body was strong enough to deflect my arrows.

The Abomination's hand made a crunching noise as it closed its hand, and some of the stone fell away, losing one of its four figures, but other than that, nothing happened. Resolving not to get close in this fight, my mind raced with ideas on how to kill something made of stone. I could play catch around the stone pile in the middle, firing at it with Frost Arrows till it fell apart and picking up my arrows as I made loops, or I could try to get it to slip on ice to give me a free shot at its eye.

Those ideas were put on pause as it stopped moving and raised its pick, bringing it down and slamming into the ground. The pick shattered the ground, cracking the ground. The Abomination reached down and picked up several pieces of broken stone. I realized what he was going to do a moment before he threw the rocks, and using Stalkers movement, I dashed to the nearest minecart, ducking behind it. The cart rocked as stone pelted it. I winced as the debris that did pass cracked the stone.

Peering over the cart's edge, I jumped up and moved back as I saw it approaching again, pulling back my bow and imbuing another Frost Arrow before releasing it. I watched as it brought its hand up again, blocking the arrow, but instead of letting it fall to the ground, it caught it in the palm of its hand and closed its fist around the arrow, crushing it.

I stared dumbfounded as my mind went to how much time it would take to make another arrow.

My first attempt to get the upper hand was to freeze the ground with an arrow. Instead of sliding or slipping, its weight just broke the thin sheet of ice as it stepped on it, then brought its pick into the ground, grabbing another handful of stone. As I dashed away again, I used Stalkers Movement to make a half loop around at the stone spattered behind me, thanking the gods that I had Careful Step helping me not to slip.

Using the moment it took for the boss to come around, I tried to think of what I had on me. There were two Rune-etched arrows with the ice-freezing orb in my pack I could pull out, but saving those for the second floor had been my plan. If I got any downtime, I might be able to make some, but that probably wasn't going to happen.

Scowling, I turned to move around the stone pile again to buy more time but nearly stumbled as the rock my foot landed on crumbled away. Looking down, I stared at the yellow dust my leg was now covered in and blinked as I realized what I'd been doing wrong. The golem wasn't just made of stone and metal, well not exactly. If I could just hit the yellow stone with a few well-placed arrows, that might just make it fall apart.